"They'll have the soldiers, they'll treat them nice, they'll show what a great host Iran can be and the circumstances and draw the attention to them," Neil told "Newsmax Now" on Tuesday. "But they'll also put America in a place where they'd have to beg … negotiate and basically try to win the release of the sailors."

This instance differs from the recent tense situation where Iran fired missiles near American vessels in the Strait of Hormuz since it appears one of the vessels had a mechanical issue and accidentally veered into Iranian territorial waters, Neil said.

"What this is was just kind of a situation where probably the nearest ship was Iranian," he said. "Strategically, Iran is masterful when it comes to these situations where Iran gets to have a say, gets to talk about what's going on with Saudi Arabia as a way to delay the release from the sailors."

Iran has reportedly said it will allow the sailors to continue on their journey at daylight.

Iran will use the 10 sailors and two boats captured on Tuesday as narrative leverage to make themselves look good and put America in a position of begging, retired Master Sgt. Scott Neil tells Newsmax TV.
They'll have the soldiers, they'll treat them nice, they'll...